Plane Crash
by DirectionallyChallengedKenshi
Summary: Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton and Nick Fury are all in a horrific plane crash. Drama ensues as Tony helps them through recovery. Also, Thor, Bruce and Maria have to cope with Loki's return. Tragedy and Hurt/Comfort, but still Angsty. R'n'R! *Used to be named 'Avengers' but that was too boring.*
1. Plane Crash

Avengers

Tony Stark flew swiftly in his Iron Man suit, impatiently scanning the rippling, constantly moving ocean surface for sign of debris. Slowing down, he hovered above the periwinkle water as it frothed angrily below. The storm had destroyed the ship. The ship that carried Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Clint Barton (Hawkeye) and Nick Fury. Tony sighed, worried that he had not found anything yet. Suddenly, Nick Fury's bald, wetly glistening head broke the ocean's surface, his large mouth gasping for oxygen. Tony grabbed his arms and lifted him onto the deck of a waiting ship. Maria Hill, his faithful assistant, dragged his sopping, bedraggled (but thankfully uninjured) form towards the stairs that descended below the deck. Tony nodded gratefully at her, before returning to skimming the ocean. After travelling uneventfully for twenty minutes, he dove into the swirling sea. White eyes glowed, set into the front of the mask. Looking around, he scowled. "Jarvis! Turn on heat vision!" he barked, exasperated that he hadn't already done it yet. "Yes, sir. Heat vision is now turned on." Jarvis replied coolly. Tony looked around, and was relieved to see a large, cooling wreckage only two-hundred yards to his left. Shooting over, he could see three forms huddled inside. With a jolt, and a sickening feeling, Tony saw that two were a golden colour, fading in some areas to white. Their temperatures ranged from ninety-five to ninety-seven degrees fahrenheit. The last one, Tony noted, was an extremely dark blackberry colour - only eighteen degrees celsius and still getter darker. "The lowest ever body heat, sir, with a complete recovery, was thirteen degrees celsius." Jarvis informed Tony. Tony frowned, and nodded to nobody in particular as he registered this information. "Thirteen degrees celsius. Right..." He shot through the water, and found a hatch on top of the ship. It was dented. He yanked it open, dropped inside the ship, and shut it to stop the torrent of water that threatened to follow. Startled to find that he was already ankle-deep in water, he waded through the ship's corridor, seeing a leakage in the ship's wall that had let all the water in. He searched for something to patch the crack, and by the time he stopped the water flow he was calf-deep. Repeating this process, Tony covered up all the gaps in the ship. Covering the last gap, now knee-deep, Tony decided to go and find the victims. He found Steve Rogers lying spread-eagled further down the corridor. Stooping down to pick him up, Tony heard a soft groan. Not pausing for a millisecond, Tony picked up Steve, got a medical examination performed by Jarvis' scan, and then deposited him underneath the hatch. Then he went to find the source of the sound. It was a sound of pain, involuntary, male. He walked into the first room. Nothing, except a bit of rubble from the crash. He went into the next room. Here there was smeared blood on the floor, imprinted with handprints and drag marks, where a person had dragged themselves through this room. Tony followed the smears and saw that they led into the next room. He went in, and his heart plummeted at the sight he saw. Natasha Romanov was leaning against the wall, looking exhausted. "Tasha- Natasha. Agent Romanoff." Stark called her name. She didn't move. "Romanoff!" he barked. Still no response. This made Stark a little annoyed. He didn't like to be ignored. "Natalia Alianovna Romanova!" Natasha's eyes snapped open at her real name. She looked around, then scowled at Tony's smug expression. "You... we really need to help Clint!" she turned to look at Agent Barton, who was sitting, propped up, against the wall, surrounded by blood, crimson swirling in the water around him. He groaned, and gave an involuntary whimper of pain. Tony ran over, and put his hand in front of Hawkeye's vision. "Follow my hand! Follow it with your eyes, Barton!" Tony began to move his hand in a small circle. Hawkeye's eyes didn't follow. Tony groaned, frustrated, and grabbed his limp form. He clutched Steve and Natasha, and opened the hatch. Water flooded in as Tony battled with his feet thrusters, flames heating the iron panelling on the floor. Eventually, he escaped the torrent of water, and flew up through the ocean, into the sky.


	2. Flatline

**Chapter 2 is officially up! Thanks for all the reviews, they inspired me to write more. Any suggestions for something to happen next? And this time, I'll split things up into paragraphs. :) SherlockMoriartyHouse500IQ x P.S.: Please R'n'R! Tell me about any typing errors. Nobody beta'ed this so every mistake is mine. You know how everybody (usually) hates reading bad fanfictions.**

**WARNING - THERE IS EXPLICIT WOUND INJURIES AND GORE/BLOOD IN THIS CHAPTER.**

**YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - IF YOU DON'T LIKE GORE, GO AWAY AND DON'T CRITICISE ME!**

_Tony deposited the unconscious people on deck, and they were immediately brought below deck into the medic cabin. Tony followed the doctors, but found he was not allowed to go in and see the people he'd rescued. The doctors wouldn't tell him anything. So, feeling defeated and confused, he flew back to his home in New York. When he got back, he gulped. This really wasn't his day. The tower looked alright from the outside - but the interior? Walking slowly inside, Tony's eyes took in a horrific sight. Fires everywhere. Several bodies littered. Charred carpet. And, sitting in the middle of it all, on Tony's favourite suede sofa, was a dark, sleek haired man with glowing green eyes. Tony scowled, and charged up his repulsors, but before he could do anything a knife worked it's way through his armor and cut deep into his side. Screaming in pain, he dropped like a stone in water. "I will win, you know. And you'll die." Loki sneered, before driving his sceptre into Tony's chest._

Tony sat bolt upright, covered in a thin sheen of sweat that was already beginning to chill in the cold air as he lay in the medical bed. Hang on a minute - Medical bed? Looking down, Tony saw a thick gauze wrap covering a chest wound. Noting his armour hanging off the opposite wall, already cleaned and restored, Tony stiffly struggled to get into a sitting position. Sitting up, he saw several doctors in the next room. Wearing masks and aprons. Walking in, he gasped. "Huh!" What he saw: Several doctors, each holding different sized knives, operating instruments, and other tools, staring at him as they leaned over Clint Barton's body. Blood leaked from a gaping hole in his stomach, the wound angled upwards to reveal pulsing muscle and white, smashed rib chunks. One of the doctors frowned, annoyed. "Hey! You can't be in here!" He motioned for the door, but Tony just walked over, and selected an apron hanging on the back of the door. He got a mask, and sterilised his hands. "Now then," He looked purposefully at the doctor. "What shall I do to help?" Knowing that Stark would _never _go away without doing something helpful (helpful in Stark's mind anyway), the doctor sighed. "Try and sponge the blood off while we work the metal out. First though, assess the victim. You can only help if you know what's wrong with Barton." Tony frowned. He scanned Barton's form. He began to speak, "There's a rip in his trousers; signifies a bloody knee. A large gash on his forehead, probably from a piece of metal. Bleeding left ear, probably means he'll have temporary deafness. He has the large wound on his abdomen; his ribs are all smashed up and one of his lungs are pierced. This is the reason for him being on an oxygen mask, adding to the fact that he is sedated." One of the more _adequate _doctors interrupted Tony's flow of details, "Not just sedated. Anaesthetised. We-" Tony waved a hand dismissively, cutting the doctor short. "Yeah, yeah. Just vocabulary. Anyway... a bruise on the head could signify concussion, meaning head trauma, opening the possibilities of amnesia or brain damage. So... chances for this poor soul are weak." Suddenly, a loud beeping erupted from a monitor across the room, racing quicker until it became a long, high-pitched droning note. A young, newly qualified doctor rushed over, and whipped around, a panicked look shadowing his fair features. "His h-heart rate! It's plummeted drastically, to flatlining! If we cannot d-do anything in the next twenty seconds, Agent Barton will die!"

To be continued...

**Ooh, a nice juicy cliffhanger. I'm leaving you hanging! Chapter 3 will be up soon. In the meantime, has anyone got any suggestions what Loki can do next? R'n'R!**


	3. Remember?

**Thanks to all of you for your advice; I'll reply to all your lovely reviews here:**

**JajaDemon666 - Yes, you are my best friend. Tell me in real life!**

**emptyhandedone - I know the characters are off, I'll try to focus more.**

**daisymall13 - I'll spread it out more, ok!**

**Sharpshooter7 - I've been quick! It's here!**

**MoonLight Chrystal - Updated!**

**Optimisticat - I listened - you can tell...**

**PsychBTRLover - That's really good, I'll use it in the next chapter, including what originally happened in the crash in this one.**

**jedi-Padawan14 - Broken... :)**

**Gaia'schild - BROKEN UP!**

**Laurie-Ylalen - Thanks for your support!**

**Ariem - Yeah, I agree.**

**Thanks for all your support! R'n'R for this chapter too!**

**P.S.: No flames please. I am FLAME-PROOF! (And if you do flame, don't hide behind a fake name, afraid to show your username - it's just cowardly.)**

**To everyone who left a review - THANK-YOU! SherlockMoriartyHouse500IQ x**

**Now to get on with writing (and it'll be longer this time)!**

Stark stared at the bleeping machine and near-hysterical doctors, then backed away slowly. Exiting the room, leaving the doctors to deal with Clint, he went to find Natasha. He walked into a room labelled 'Natalia Alianovna Romanova's Recovery Room'. He smirked, and walked in. _Big _mistake. Despite a broken leg, Natasha managed to leap out of her bed into a fighting stance, palm flying towards Tony's nose, ready to smash it upwards into his skull in a fatal blow. Stopping, she looked confused, then grabbed his collar and yanked backwards while pivoting his waist with her other hand. He landed on the floor on his his back with thump. She stared at him coldly, while he let out a shaky breath and groaned; winded.

"Natasha... why?" Tony squeaked.

"You annoy me." Came the cool reply.

"I... annoy you? I'm a playboy,_ apparently._ Of course I annoy you! Apparently, I'm self-obsessed, volatile, and I don't play well with others, so-"

"True. But still, very irritating when I'm thinking." Natasha cut him off.

"I... well, _sorry_." Tony smirked, not sounding sorry at all, but a second later, Natasha had her elbow at his throat, her other hand gripping his chest. Wincing in pain, but using pride and gloating to hide it, Tony managed to gasp,

"You wouldn't kill me."

Natasha gave him a steely look that made a chill run down his spine.

"Who says so?" Natasha spoke.

"Uh..."

"I work for S.H.I.E.L.D., I am a trained assassin. Given the order, I would kill you."

Seeing her head jerk slightly at the shouts of, 'Emergency in Barton's room!' and, 'Cardiac arrest! Help!', Tony smirked again, pain and fear practically leaking from his features as he saw her expression.

"In love, are we, Tasha? The _famous _Black Widow-" Her head snapped back into focus and she slapped him hard across the cheek, then picked him up and threw him out of the room. He couldn't help but notice that she hadn't denied his statement.

"_We were flying over the ocean. A rumble had sounded ominously from the sky. Agent Barton had looked worriedly out of the window, expecting a storm. He looked at me, the Avengers assemble leader Nick Fury, and I was also looking out at the sky. It was dark; the sky lit only by glowing forks of lightning shooting through the grey clouds._

"_Sir... we should turn back. We can't land in the ocean, and we're only just halfway to-" Agent Barton stopped speaking as a loud noise caught his attention. The roof of the helicarrier was torn off - and whatever was silhouetted against the sky was tearing it apart. It jumped into the airship, and grabbed me. It flung me against the wall, where I lay as it grabbed the metal sheet it had torn off the ship. Tearing it into confetti sized pieces, it grabbed Agent Barton and used it's claws to tear his abdomen. It then shoved all the metal inside his ribcage. Then it grabbed Agent Romanoff, and snapped her leg like a child would snap a twig. Before it could do anything else, though, Agent Rogers grabbed it's neck, that was as thick as his calf, but still was determined to strangle it. It grabbed him and crushed his ribs in one, massive hand. Then it grabbed me and threw me into the sky, through the hole in the roof. I landed in the ocean._

"_That was when I blacked out, and the other agents must have still been in the airship when it crashed. That is all I remember, Coulson." _

Phillip Coulson sighed, and steepled his fingers.

"Was anyone compromised?" Coulson asked wearily, with the air of a man who's patience had run out, tolerance levels down to zero when evil creatures were concerned. Nick Fury shook his head, sighing. Suddenly, a huge rumble echoed in the ship, then a roaring, bellowing shout. Nick Fury looked alarmed.

"Coulson! Arrange forces! The Hulk has been released!"

**Another cliffhanger. I just really didn't think of anything else to do... any suggestions for why the Hulk is free, and how/why Banner was outraged (the change wasn't voluntary)? Short again, I know, but I need to do other stuff... like, not to do with a computer screen. If I had nothing else to do, I would download and type, like, ten chapters per day. But I can't do that seeing as I already have a busy schedule. And one last thing... try to guess how old I am! Leave your guess in a review. Ten guesses and I'll tell you all my actual age... maybe! R'n'R! Chapter 4 coming soon! Also, more ideas for Loki, further chapter story lines, etc, are very welcome!**

**...I welcome tips 'n' advice with a: warm embrace. I welcome good points with a: THANK-YOU SO MUCH YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY. I welcome flames with a: No. Just don't. Thanks! R'n'R! And favourite this story!**

**SherlockMoriartyHouse x :)**

**P.S.: Have you read my 1000th Hunger Games Story?**


	4. Torture

**Sharpshooter7 - Good idea! I'm gonna use that!**

**So, yeah, I would say a load of stuff about reviews, blah-de-blah, but you guys know, if you've been following this story, that I will just say: R'n'R!**

**And my boss for this story is JajaDemon666. She tells me all of my deadlines, and because I know her in real life she will punish me if I'm late finishing this... so, yeah.**

**Now, the story.**

_Loki wanted revenge._

That was the only thought Thor had in his head. Loki wanted revenge... Thor's thinking was interrupted as a giant green blur sped past. Thor grabbed Mjölnir and ran after the Hulk. Catching up, Thor did something _very _stupid. He ran past the Hulk, and stood waiting as it/he barreled towards him. He held out Mjölnir in front of him.

There was a great smacking noise as the Hulk crashed into Mjölnir, Thor gritted his teeth and dug his heels into the ground to fight the force of the Hulk. Eventually, the Hulk stopped thrashing, green skin melting into tan. Bruce Banner scuttled away - and crashed into someone. He looked up, and screamed. _Loki. _Loki smiled the smile that a wolf would give a rabbit. _A_ _knowing leer. _He slashed the blade of his sceptre across Bruce's cheek. Blood dribbled from his cheek, but when he put up his hand to staunch the bleeding, there was no wound - but blood was still running down his jawline, forming a small puddle on the floor. Loki plunged the blade into Bruce's arm, but he didn't scream in agony like another human would. Loki smirked, then twisted the blade and muttered an incantation. Bruce's arm glowed blue, then he began to grunt as he turned back into the Hulk. Thor watched, astonished. _Loki could forcefully turn Banner into the Hulk? _Sinews popped and bones crunched as Bruce's muscles expanded. His skin turned green and he roared in anger. Groping for Mjölnir, Thor silently crept over and swung the hammer at Loki. Loki rippled and disappeared as Mjölnir made contact with him. The real Loki was standing across the room, sneering.

"Honestly, brother. You _always _fall for that!"

"I guess I am just a stupid, gullible-" Thor began.

"You are King of Asguard! You know you are not gullible, or stupid! I am the stupid one in all of your _precious _little avenger mind... but I will rise to be king of this world. I will!" Loki shouted the last few words, before smiling. "This will be worth getting caught." He pointed the sceptre at Thor, "Siz xarici qan sizin şaxta nəhəng qardaşının elinizin altında gün sonuna işgəncə üçün, bu gün bütün Cəhənnəm olacaq." With a deafening crash, Thor disappeared.

Tony sat up. He was in some sort of cell; it was dark and damp and smelled of rotten meat. There was something in the shape of a human, but in a decomposed state, slumped in the corner. Tony recoiled. Then he noticed Thor, chained against the wall to his left. Then Tony realised - he was chained up too! Loki walked in, swinging a gauntlet in one hand and a strange gun in the other. Sneering, he held up the gun, and pulled the trigger. Out of the barrel came a zapping noise, and a bolt of lightning shot out of the end. Thor convulsed and screamed as he was given a taste of his own medicine. Tony stared in horror at Loki's gleeful expression: he was _high _on the sound of a man in agony. Then, after what seemed like a century, Loki stopped hurting Thor. Tony almost breathed a sigh of relief, until Loki pointed the gauntlet's palm at him. _His Iron Man suit gauntlet! _Tony felt white-hot pain searing in his side as the repulsor fired, sending a bullet of light into his side.

Hours later, Loki was still torturing the men. After a while, though, he got bored and swapped the tortures, so Tony was being electrocuted and Thor was being shot. Soon Loki got bored, then sneered at the two bedraggled, bleeding, moaning men.

"How about I send you back to the base? Let us see how people cope!" A jet of light shone from Loki's sceptre, and the last thing Tony saw was Loki's manic grin, stretched across his face in a wolfish leer.

**R'n'R! Any ideas for anything else?**


	5. Compromised

**Sarcasm360 - Good idea! Ok!**

**Still waiting for guesses on my age! C'mon! Still got ten to go before I reveal it!**

**I'll speak more at the end. R'n'R or my boss JajaDemon666 will kill me for not writing it good enough. R'n'R!**

**P.S.: There's a _teensy _bit of 'romance' in this chapter. It's probably the only chapter to have romance. And the romance is really small... so yeah. It's not _really_ romance...**

**SherlockMoriartyHouse500IQ x**

Thor opened his eyes, and felt a sharp blade against his chest. He could see Loki's sneering face, as he hypnotised Thor to do his bidding.

Clint opened his eyes, and groaned as a bright light made his head pound. Groaning quietly, he lifted his head. Natasha was sitting in the chair beside his bed, stiff in the seat but asleep. Clint smiled slightly as he saw the exhausted circles, but yelled in pain as hot pain seared through his side. Natasha's head jerked up and she looked at him, and spoke.

"Sorry I was asleep. I-"

"It's okay. I- argh..." Clint groaned as agony slowly set in his ribs. Natasha reached over to wipe a trickle of blood from his mouth, and smiled softly; sympathetically,

"Yeah. You flat-lined, and the doctors have to actually electronically breathe and beat your heart for you with some of Agent Stark's machinery." Natasha spoke quietly.

"I hope I won't need an arc reactor!" Clint laughed, then groaned as the wires attached to his chest twisted slightly as his laughter sent tremors through his lungs. "Natasha, I... when I was unconscious, when I was in the crash... I... I couldn't... stop..." Clint was fading again, nearly unconscious. "I... couldn't stop thinking... that we would be fine... and that we'd all... be fine. And I would never, ever forgive m-myself if... if you died." Natasha bit her lip and fought tears as she heard these words slip from Clint's ghostly pale lips, but quickly composed herself as she heard a crash in the other room. Getting up, she walked through the door.

What she did not expect was Tony unconscious in the corner, with Nick Fury, Phil Coulson and Maria Hill fighting a _very _angry Thor.

"Someone's been compromised!" Phil yelled into his phone. "We need backup!"

What nobody had noticed yet was Loki's sceptre inching towards Natasha's heart from her side, the man himself invisible.

... But if they could see him, they would be able to see a leer on his face that would break every single human's courage into shards of weakness.

_He was going to win this time._

**TELL ME ANY TYPOS!**

**I am so, so, so sosososososososo sorry about this _mega _short chapter. I'll make it up for you with a long one? I AM SO SO SO SO SO SORRY! And another cliffhanger... they seem to be my thing, don't they? Yeah. Remember to review, blah blah blah...**

**I'LL ONLY UPLOAD ANOTHER CHAPTER IF ONE PERSON TRIES TO GUESS MY AGE! COME ON GUYS, SERIOUSLY!**

**P.S.: I will not upload until I get one guess (and not from JajaDemon666 either) of my age! I know an author who didn't upload their story for _over a year _because nobody did a 'Guess my age' review!**

**Do you want that?**

**I'll assume no...**

**So, yeah. Guessing time!**

**Review or the awesome-plots-for-my-avengers-fanfic part of my brain will wither and rot from boredom! I am SherlockMoriartyHouse500IQ, but I'll become SherlocksBrainHasRotted0IQ soon!**

**Thank-you for your consideration. x**


	6. Careless

**Hey all!**

**Thanks for all the guesses on my age - seven so far! Only three more guesses to go before I reveal the BIG NUMBER ITSELF! (Hint: Older than 10 but younger than 20. That should narrow the guesses down, right?)**

**So, on with the story. This one'll be longer than the last! R'n'R!**

Natasha sensed a movement in her peripheral vision; but as she spun around Loki lunged at her chest, sceptre extended. A piercing scream made Clint, in his bed, look up. Struggling out of bed, he leapt up to help her. Grabbing his bow and arrow, he saw Loki laughing as Natasha, now with glowing blue eyes, ran to start attacking Phil Coulson.

"Yes! Someone's been compromised!" Fury eventually yelled an answer to Phil, who replied,

"I can see that! Put a blow to their heads!" The agents acted fast; but given the inhuman strength Thor had, and the assassin training from Natasha, gave them a difficult struggle. They couldn't kill these people. An arrow suddenly flew through the air, and pierced Thor's neck. The pulsing blue vein there turned a bright purple, and Thor crumpled to the ground amidst the other fighting.

"Hit his head, Natasha!" Clint hadn't realised that Natasha was under Loki's control, and Loki, realising this, silently commanded Natasha to run over to Clint. Natasha did as he asked, still under the trance.

"Ok, right, Clint told me to do this. I'll hit his head. But he didn't specify which male, so I'll assume Clint was talking about himself." Natasha spoke softly, and Clint, noticing her eyes, staggered back.

"Natasha! Please-" Clint couldn't finish, but before Natasha could do anything Steve Rogers rugby tackled her to the ground, before giving her a ferocious blow to her temple. Clint objected.

"Hey, hey, man! Not so hard!" Clint dragged Steve off of Natasha's limp form, before picking her up and putting her on the bed he was on before. For a moment he stood to catch his breath, before going back to join the battle.

An hour later, the battle was still raging, but Nick Fury's side was winning. With Natasha now conscious, they eventually got a heavy hit to Thor's head. They all turned around, to see that Loki had slunk away long ago. Cursing, they cleared up the mess and returned to the jobs that needed doing.

A few weeks later, the avengers had transferred to an airship. In his laboratory, Tony was tinkering with a small, metal object on his workbench. He got a match, and held it cautiously against the strangely-shaped item. A huge explosion ripped through the airship, and an alarm screamed as Jarvis spoke,

"Red alert, sir. Get on deck for emergency evacuation. All four engines have malfunctioned due to your lack of-" Tony looked up at this, and interrupted the computer-man.

"Thanks, Jarvis, but I'd just like to get on deck." Tony grabbed his important equipment and jumped up the stairs two at a time, then swore as he tripped. Grabbing his Iron Man suitcase, he jumped onto deck, into the ships with the others.

**OMG too short again!**

**Sorry!**

**I _do _need to sleep though. I'm not a vampyre... or am I?**

**Mwahahahahahaha!**

**Just joking.**

**Check out my sister, JajaDemon666!**


	7. Stranded

**Yeah! Ten guesses at last! The big number... is at the end of the chapter. Read the chapter first!**

**Bit of language. You have been warned! And blood, but not much. R'n'R!**

Tony jumped on deck, and leaped into a small pod as Clint and Natasha did the same. Sitting in the slightly cramped space, they began to speak as the pod shot into the air; it's track to circle the sky for three hours before a route was found. After three hours of silence, the radio speakers blared. Nick Fury's voice crackled though.

"Agents. The nearest base that we need is in Australia. It will take twenty hours." Natasha looked skeptically at the annoyed expressions on the two men's faces. Clint threw his arms up in despair, then winced.

"Twenty hours stuck with this moron? No freakin' way!" Tony yelled to nobody in particular. Natasha sighed.

"Well, there's nothing we can do." But Tony had other ideas - he grabbed his Iron Man suit, waited until he was suited up, and opened the hatch at the top of the pod.

"See ya, lovebirds!" Tony jumped out, slamming the hatch behind him. Natasha and Clint rolled their eyes, simultaneously - oblivious to the fact that the vibrations of the hatch had knocked them off course.

After another four hours of contemplating, Clint got fed up with the silence.

"So, Natasha... argh..." Clint broke off, clutching his side. Red blood was seeping through the bandage around his torso. Sweat beaded on his brow, and trickled down his temples.

"Clint, what's wrong?" Natasha asked, before he doubled over, groaning almost inaudibly in agony. He straightened up, then smiled.

"Gotcha!" Clint laughed, although Natasha knew this was a façade - he was really in pain - but so she didn't worry him, she smiled back.

"So... what shall we do for the next twenty hours? Talk?" Clint spoke through gritted teeth, his jaw clamped so as not to scream. His hand clutched his side, as blood dripped down his hip in a steady flow.

"About what?" Natasha replied.

"Anything." _To take my mind off the pain... _Clint added silently. Natasha slowly nodded.

"Budapest?" Clint shook his head. _Too long ago; hazy._

"Africa?" Again no. _Too painful, losing all those agents._

"France?" A nod.

"Ok." Natasha grinned, looking away politely as Clint wiped blood and sweat from his face.

"Ok, so..." Clint shuddered at the energy in speaking, his breath short and gasping. "We were..." He spiraled to the floor, and blacked out. Natasha, her face grim, gently picked him up and put him on a tiny camp bed.

"Oh, God. Hell!" screamed Natasha as a huge jolt made her more alert. Looking out a small glass panel set in the pod wall, all she could see was dark, murky water. _They had crashed into the ocean._

"Shit!" cursed Clint as they hit the seabed; luckily this ocean wasn't too deep yet, otherwise they would've been crushed by the water force. Water began flooding in the crumpled wall; it had smashed on impact with the ocean's surface. Clint scrambled up from the camp bed and put his hand on the hatch.

"Natasha - take a deep breath!" Natasha did as he said, and they both took in a deep breath. Pausing only for a millisecond, Clint pushed open the hatch and clambered into the sea, swimming swiftly towards the surface. Natasha followed suit, and when they reached the surface, gasping, they could see some craggy rocks nearby. Swimming over, they dragged their exhausted bodies up onto a flat rock. Clint slipped off, scraping his wounded side and cursing again as blood was smeared over the rock's rough edge. Natasha extended her hand, and pulled him up. Lying on his back, catching his breath, Clint wheezed,

"Are we ever gonna have a normal day?"

"Nope." Came the reply.

"Now what?" Clint asked as he took in their surroundings - they were on a small groups of rocks in the middle of the ocean. Luckily Clint had had his quiver and bow strapped to his back, and Natasha had two guns tucked in her belt, with a strip of ammunition. A look of confusion passed over Natasha's face, then realisation, then annoyance.

"Tony! He knocked us off course when he slammed the hatch!" Natasha cried. Clint groaned.

"So the bastard nearly killed us because he's so bloody strong?" Natasha nodded, still scanning the ocean for a sign of S.H.I.E.L.D., but nobody else could be seen.

_They were stranded._

**Yay! Chapter 7 finished already!**

**My age, you ask?**

**...I am...**

**16! Yeah!**

**Now comment. ;)**


	8. Swimming

**Hi, y'all. (Hehehe.) I'm gonna get on with this. IDEAS WELCOME (as always) CAUSE I'M RUNNING OUT (as always)! And this chapter's gonna be reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllly long! At last, you say. R'n'R!**

**Sherlock MoriartyHouse500IQ x**

Tony couldn't remember what happened really. He'd left Natasha and Clint in the pod together, then crashed into another pod, containing Thor, and they'd smashed into London - conveniently, because a guy was trying to kill everyone. In the collision though, his suit had buckled and a shard of the chest plate had speared his arc reactor - now all he knew was he had to carry around a car battery if he wanted to live. Now a stupid guy who called himself 'The Dark One' was attacking London. A pity the dark one had dark, greasy hair in a bowl cut, large rectangular glasses with an odd shape so he had to push them up his nose every few seconds, a bad case of acne, huge front teeth, sticky-out ears and a weedy frame. Also a pity he had a nuclear bomb robot and was about to explode everyone.

"Hey, nerdy," Tony called as he ran towards the guy, and the young man spun round.

"Ah, Tony Stark. Where's your friends? To back you up, you know. To help you. To help defeat me... uh..." _Oh, God. _Tony thought, slapping a hand to his forehead. _This guy is such an amateur. _Thor landed lightly, holding Mjölnir aloft.

"I have come to assist in restraining this unwieldy, odd Midgardian!" Thor shouted unnecessarily. Tony rolled his eyes again, but gasped in shock as the 'Nuclear-Bot' strode forwards and punched Thor backwards. Mjölnir slipped out of his large hand as he crashed to the floor.

The robot then turned it's LED gaze towards Tony, who gulped. _It's a good thing I used a projector to make the car battery look like Thor's hammer! _Yes, it was lucky. And unlucky - Thor, not being too bright, mistook the car battery for his hammer. He picked it up and it crunched into the robot, destroying it and the car battery. He saw his hammer smash and screamed - and began to cry after seeing it's mangled remains.

"No! _No_! My hammer! Oh my... what shall I do... I'm powerless without Mjölnir!" Tony clutched his chest and fell to the ground, writhing wildly as his heart began to shut down, ready for the shrapnel to close in.

Meanwhile

Natasha wiped the sweat off her forehead, and gingerly peeled off her gloves and boots. They'd been on this rock for hours now, and Clint had passed out from the heat. Natasha placed her gloves and boots to the side, before tearing her suit into a wetsuit shape; the arms and legs shorter. Tying her hair up with a strip of material, Natasha felt cool breeze on her neck, and her toes. _Wait. Her toes? _Looking down, Natasha could see the purple-black horizon - the sun was setting; and the tide was coming in. Fast.

Staring at the dark, cold water, full of unknown creatures, Natasha was wet up to her knees before she reacted. Grabbing Clint, she shook him to wake him. He groaned and coughed, spraying warm droplets of blood onto her pale, narrow face. Using her hand, Natasha wiped her face, using the other to prop up Clint.

"Natasha... what is it?" Clint groaned softly.

"The water! It's coming in!" answered Natasha urgently.

"Natasha... the tide?" Clint mumbled, still groggy from sleep and blood loss.

"Yes!" Natasha put his arm round her shoulders, and slid into the sea. The sky glittered with a thousand stars and the sea reflected the light, and the dark sun setting was casting a glow across the black water, causing a faint glow to rise into the sea mist. Natasha saw this breathtaking scene, but when Clint sank under the water, she snapped into action. She pulled him onto her back, and used a spare rope from her belt to tie him to her. After checking he could breath alright, Natasha set off through the water, arms ploughing with steady, long strokes, her legs kicking as hard as her body would allow.

The freezing water was a startling contrast to the roasting sun, and Natasha could feel a pang in her lungs as she inhaled the icy air. Already the sun had set, and the moon would soon weave it's way up to hang with the stars. Clint moaned suddenly, then found his strength burning like a fire. Natasha, he could hear, was now paddling with exhaustion, but he knew that she would rather drown from exhaustion than give up. Rolling over, he flipped her int the air, and began to swim himself. He cursed at the glacier water, but if anyone was present they would see the determination burning in his grey eyes. Natasha struggled feebly for a moment, then lay to catch her breath when she realised the struggle was useless. She'd used all her strength in swimming, so she couldn't fight Clint's power. She lay against him as they cut smoothly through the water, and she stared up at the stars and sleepiness overwhelmed her senses and she lost the battle to stay awake.

Meanwhile

Tony wheezed and gasped as Thor cried, and the police took away the smashed robot and the stupid man. Then an ambulance arrived, and gave Thor his hammer. He blinked stupidly at it, then looked at Tony, who had his hands clenched as he tried to breathe slowly, against his faltering heart's wishes. Thor, in alarm, grabbed a battery from a general store nearby and shoved it into the gap in Tony's arc reactor. Incredibly, it worked. Tony's breathing slowed, and he managed to calm his erratic heartbeat. Looking down at his chest, he raised and eyebrow.

"Who would've known that a Double A battery could change my life?" he grinned stupidly, still staring as his fake heart and shaking his head in disbelief.

Clint had dragged himself onto a flat rock, and was breathing heavily. The sun was rising; he'd been swimming for seven hours straight. Natasha looked at him, and smiled slightly. He returned it with a lopsided grimace, draping a hand over his eyes to blot out the early morning sunshine. Natasha looked him over to see any injuries, and she was shocked to see his physical condition.

His clothes were tattered, his blue veins pulsing quick and shallow like his breaths. He looked exhausted, dark rings around his eyes. She leaned over the rock's edge, and could see a faint reflection of herself. She looked a little bedraggled, but her hair had dried from being out of the water all night and she'd slept for a long time, so she looked refreshed and perfectly normal. On the other hand, Clint looked like crap.


	9. Emergencies

**Hi. Me again. Another chapter up, I guess! R'n'R, again.**

**Should I carry on with this? Read to find out and suggest where Steve (Captain America) can come in to help.**

Clint ran a hand through his hair, gasping for breath and trying to get the dull aching cramp out of his muscles. Natasha frowned as he sighed from exhaustion. Suddenly, she felt a slippery sensation creep around her ankle. Turning around, she could see a squid the size of a tank. Natasha screamed, hacked at the tentacle with her knife and dragged Clint into the middle of the rock. A fish the size of a laptop jumped out of the water, landing in the mouth of another fish the size of a car. Natasha looked around wildly, spotting huge fish and even a crab the size of a van crawling towards them. _Mutants!_

Tony was pottering around his office, when suddenly a tremor ran through his body. He looked at his hands, which were shaking, then he looked at his arc reactor.

"Pepper!" Tony yelled, and his girlfriend/wife/secretary came running.

"Batteries! We need batteries! Pepper, damn it..." Tony swore as the world spun and his heart began to sputter.

"Tony? What is it? What's wrong?" Pepper asked, crouching down beside him and feeling his forehead. "Fever?"

"Damn it, Pepper, the battery's failing! I need a new battery now!" Tony choked out.

"Ohmigod! Uh... um... ah..." Pepper looked around, panic setting in.

"What?" Tony mumbled, darkness creeping in on the edge of his vision as his heart stopped pumping blood regularly. He felt lethargic and had the overwhelming urge to sleep. He shut his eyes...

Pepper saw him fall unconscious, and she screamed,

"Jarvis!"

"Yes, Miss Pott-"

"Where are the damn batteries? Shit, Jarvis, I need batteries now! Tony's gonna die!"

"They are in the left drawer, behind-"

"Just open the damn door mechanically! Fuck you, Jarvis, now!" It was a good thing that artificial intelligence voices had no emotions. Otherwise Jarvis would have crumbled under Pepper's words, unless Tony had killed him with scathing words before.

"Yes, Miss Potts. Dum-E, if you please." Dum-E whirred over and opened a drawer at the other side of the room, then tossed them to Pepper in a strange whirr-reverse-flick-let go sequence. Pepper caught the battery and ran over to Tony. She yanked out the old battery, and squished the new one into the small, jagged hole left. Now all she had to do was wait and see if it worked.

Natasha was surrounded by bodies, most mutants, but one not. She sprinted nimbly over to Clint's still form, her brain numbing as the horrifying thoughts of being stuck with his corpse flashed through her mind. Then a more disturbing one set in - what if, while she had been attacking the mutants, she had killed him? Natasha listened to hit chest, and was relieved to hear a fluttering beat. Clint groaned, and sat up.

"Natasha?" Natasha slapped him hard, and instead of grinning, knowing he deserved it, he fell to his side, whimpering.

"Please don't kill me, Loki!" The strangled cry escaped his lips. Natasha stumbled back, startled. He was hallucinating - and she had to get him out of limbo lest he go mad.

"Please, please, please..." Clint was gasping and clutching imaginary wounds. "Please, don't... Help! Help me! Natasha! Thor! Steve, Tony, Nick, Maria... Somebody help..." Clint screamed a terrible, blood-curdling shriek and went limp. Natasha froze. _Had his mind killed his body?_

"Clint?" Natasha whispered, unsure of what to do. If he was dead, she would go crazy. But she was lucky.

"Na... Natasha? Tasha?" Clint opened his eyes, and squinted against the harsh light.

"It's okay, don't worry. We're okay for now..." Natasha soothed him, and for a moment he relaxed - but stiffened again a moment later.

"For now?" Natasha cursed. _Shit. I shouldn't have said that..._

"Natasha, answer me. What do you mean by for now?" Natasha looked away, her red locks tumbling over her face in the sea spray, until she jerked from a hand landing softly on her shoulder.

"Natasha, please... Just tell me." But Natasha couldn't speak as she saw a silhouette looming over Clint, and only emit a strangled squeak of horror escaping from her lips. Clint was puzzled at her expression, and turned around.

If anyone was around, they would have heard the most horrifying screams for the next hour, until everything went silent and the creature slunk back into the ocean.

Everything was still, except the lulling rush of waves lapping gently against the two people lying side-by-side on the rock, in the middle of the sea. Nothing stirred.

No noise except the soft waves and splashes. No human noises.

The agents lay still.


	10. Seizures

**Hey. R'n'R. Coulson's alive in this, by the way...**

**Thanks for the great reviews - I will keep going (All thanks to LittleWeasleyGirl!)**

**Hehehe. Natasha and Clint whump.**

**I LIVE FOR TORTURING XD**

**And a House M.D. 'Games' reference.**

Steve Rogers perched on the edge of the bench, walkie-talkie pressed against his ear.

"Come on... come on, Natasha... Pick up..." Steve grumbled through gritted teeth. Nick Fury paced beside him, with Coulson pacing further away. After a long silence, Natasha picked up.

"St-Steve... I... we... agh..." After a crackled of static, the walkie-talkie cut off. But it was enough to trace the phone.

A few hours later, Natasha blinked and sat up, but her head throbbed so much she could only shift her weight a little upwards. She heard calling, and saw Steve's worried face before she passed out.

Tony was running on a treadmill; a present from Pepper, after he'd complained that he couldn't do any good exercise because he wasn't needed anywhere as Iron Man - or Tony Stark. After a good half-hour of sprinting, he wiped the perspiration from his brow and had a large gulp of Gatorade. Then he sat for a minute, looking through files of his suit on a a screen, then he climbed back onto the treadmill and ran again.

No longer than two minutes later, a dizzying sensation washed over him. He fell to the floor, twitching, but not making any noises.

Pepper found him there two hours later. She panicked and called S.H.I.E.L.D.; who picked him up to take him to their specialised hospital bay.

Tony sat up groggily, then looked down to see a new arc reactor in his chest. He'd been working on one, and Bruce Banner, or the greeny-meeny-hulkie-wulkie as Tony sometimes called him, had finished it. Looking left, Tony could see Natasha staring at him. He started, but realised her vacant eyes weren't focused - she was asleep - but she looked gaunt, pale and extremely thin. Covered in cuts, bruises and bloody bandages, in some places all three, she looked terrible. Looking right, Tony could see Clint lying in bed, IVs strapped to his arms and an oxygen mask pinned to his face. He was swathed in bandages soaked with blood.

"We didn't think Clint would survive." A voice rang out, and Tony jumped. He hadn't seen Maria Hill sitting in a chair beside Natasha's bed. Tony grimaced, then pulled himself into a sitting position. Clint suddenly jerked, his eyes flying open.

"Bloody hell! It's too dark! Turn the fucking lights on!" Clint yelled, and Tony frowned.

"Dark? Clint, it's so bright in here I have to squint!" His answer was followed by silence. Then,

"What? I can barely hear you... speak up." Clint spoke, a little too loudly. Tony frowned.

"I'm shouting!" Tony yelled, and Clint replied,

"Louder!" Clint screamed, and Maria grabbed a syringe and injected it into the IV tube, sedating Clint.

"What was that about?" Tony asked, confused.

"Uh... well, the thing that attacked him and Natasha did sufficient harm to his sight and hearing. Spinal injuries on them both have paralysed them..." Maria trailed off, biting her lip at the horrified expression on Tony's face.

"Oh..." Tony looked away. Bruce entered, speaking to a doctor.

"... Other symptoms?" The doctor was asking.

"I can see the elevated temperatures and restlessness. I think they have something other than their injuries. We can start by inducing seizures" came Bruce's gruff reply. A large device was wheeled in, and tabs and tubes were stuck to Natasha and Clint's foreheads. They were woken, and Bruce explained the situation.

"We'll try and induce a seizure, to cancel out possibilities of illnesses. The machine was turned on, and for a moment Natasha and Clint gazed silently at the machine. It began to flash and play strange noises, but their mouths stayed resolutely shut around the oxygen tubes. Suddenly Natasha's eyes came into focus and she began to convulse and jerk. Clint soon deteriorated into the same condition, jerking and twitching. Tony was confused.

"Are they seizing or dancing?"

"Seizing." came the reply. Tony stared then recoiled in disgust.

"Isn't there any other way to check?"

"No. I assure you that if there was, I would use it."


End file.
